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Nanotechnology and Society Guide

NISE Network product

Description

This guide is focused on "three big ideas" that can provide a framework to help museum staff and visitors feel empowered to reflect on the relevance of nanotechnology in their lives through open-ended conversation. The guide considers how new nanotechnologies may affect people and the societies they live in and create. The three big ideas are illustrated with related videos and hands-on activities and further explored through very brief case studies of three nanospecific technologies, providing further examples of conversations that might occur on a museum floor. Finally, the guide explores strategies and tips for engaging visitors in conversations as part of their learning experience.

Resources

Objectives

Big Idea

This guide serves as a short introduction to how museum professionals can engage visitors in conversations about nanotechnology and society and help make our science centers a place where the future of nanotechnology is not just imagined, but shaped.

Learning Goals

Values shape how technologies are both developed and adopted

Technologies affect social relationships

Technologies work because they are part of larger systems

Nano Content Map

Nanotechnologies—and their costs, utility, risks, and benefits—are closely interconnected with society and with our values.

Credits

Funding

Developed for the NISE Network with funding from the National Science Foundation under Award Numbers 0532536 and 0940143. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

NISE Network products are developed through an iterative collaborative process that includes scientific review, peer review, and visitor evaluation in accordance with an inclusive audiences approach. Products are designed to be easily edited and adapted for different audiences under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. To learn more, visit our Development Process page.

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